CU Anschutz In The News

Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, said while protesting during a pandemic is not optimum timing, people can’t choose the moment when an officer-involved killing will trigger anger and rage. Several medical students and residents from the school signed the letter praising the recent protests. “People want to make their voices heard at this moment,” he said. “I’m not going to urge people not to gather. But I would not say these protests are risk-free. It’s an individual decision.”

For example, pools, smaller lakes and beaches are more likely to have large crowds, so travelers should look at going when there are likely to be fewer people, said Glen Mays, a professor of health policy at the Colorado School of Public Health.

“It is essential that we take these new precautions and make every effort to maximize the academic progress and social and emotional development for our kids,” Steve Federico, a pediatric and school programs specialist with Denver Health [and CU School of Medicine], said in a video outlining the district’s proposed changes.

“The use of any agent that’s going to generate a lot of coughing among people that are in dense group settings, when people are in close proximity, that’s absolutely going to elevate risks considerably,” said Glen Mays, a professor of health policy at the Colorado School of Public Health.

Patients also have to be at least 18 and able to understand that the treatment is experimental, said Dr. David Beckham, an associate professor in the infectious diseases division on the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus. People who have had previous bad reactions to plasma therapies or who have a condition that make receiving more fluid dangerous, like a severe heart or kidney problem, might not qualify.

But quarantine and social distancing policies are nearly useless without frequent testing to know who is sick, said Dr. Carlos Franco-Paredes, an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and infectious disease specialist. And the CDC-recommended symptom screenings used by the jails are ineffective against those with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic, he said.

“I am encouraged by the death data,” said Katie Colburn, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus who has been involved in modeling the coronavirus pandemic. “I think there’s a positive trend.”

While it can be difficult to compare data directly, it’s clear the new virus is more contagious and more deadly than seasonal flu, said Glen Mays, chair of health systems, management and policy at the Colorado School of Public Health. … “That’s why we never talk about shutting down the economy” during flu season, he said. “No pharmaceutical prevention, plus being more infectious, plus a much higher death rate are why we had to pull out all the stops.”